1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems and methods for collecting proprietary market information from a group of cooperating companies who are otherwise competitors, for making statistics compiled from that data available to those companies in electronic format, for providing each company with flexible, interactive data mining access to such statistics, and for protecting the confidentiality of each company's proprietary market information.
2. Background Description
Business managers must have sufficient relevant information regarding their businesses and their competitors' businesses in order to make useful decisions and plans. That information should be as readily available to the manager as possible. In addition, that information must be parseable in selectable ways and suitable for reasonable relevant analysis. Service providers exist who claim to offer consulting and database access services that provide what the manager needs. However, in a number of industries, including in the field of service providers, such as insurance providers, it can be difficult to get a complete picture of the market and its segments due to the difficulties one can expect in trying to get competitors to disclose to each other, directly or indirectly, relevant private information. It is the availability of such comprehensive information that can enable a business manager to become more effective in maximizing the use of the company's resources.
There presently does not exist a system for management to have cost-effective ownership of interactive access to detailed relevant market information made available by others in the same industry through a secure survey system. In addition, there is presently no system that enables the manager to analyze that data or information in a customized manner. Instead, there are only intermediates and consultants that compile static reports about the marketplace as a whole, and prevent insight into the data behind those static reports. It would be preferable to permit relevant industry survey participants to refine and customize their analyses without having to go back to the third-party intermediary or consultant to request further analyses, at further cost.
Importantly, managers need a rational scientific basis for determining their company's competitive position and trends affecting competitive position using robust, reliable, current data. Such information is critical if management is to quickly recognize and effectively adapt to competitive challenges in the markets and market segments in which it competes. What is needed is a system that enables a company to achieve cross-functional coordinated competitive strategy, distribution improvements and resource allocation based on comprehensive information and consistent definitions rather than anecdotal information collected from various functional areas with different perspectives.
In particular, there presently does not exist a system that establishes a mechanism for companies to share anonymously detailed proprietary sales transaction data in order to create a detailed, reliable database of market activity statistics accessible to all participants, while at the same time protecting the anonymity of each company's data and their competitive position. For a company to participate and make such a system possible, the company must perceive that the value of information gained exceeds the value of information given and the cost of compiling and providing that information. What is needed is a system that enables the company to gain access to a customized market transaction database many times greater than its own transaction database as the incentive to provide to that database its own sensitive information. For that, each company must be assured of being only one anonymous contributor to any statistic seen by other companies on their customized databases. The system must be configured so that each company's highly confidential data must be accessible by that company only.
A system of comprehensive market/industry information would be of value to the manager; however, it must also be configured for ease of use such that the inputted information is relevant. That is, the system must address the need for an interactive, non-difficult interface that provides access to extensive, detailed market information by a broad range of non-technical users from various functional areas of the company, thus increasing its use in decision-making and its impact on company results. For example, the system should allow company management to focus on areas of proprietary interest, unconstrained by standardized survey reports that all participants would otherwise share. What is needed is something other than the existing type of resource in which fixed information of limited value is accessible in a limited manner. Such a system should permit each participating provider with the capability to access and analyze the survey data so that it may study and identify particular niches of competitive advantage or disadvantage with total anonymity, thereby maximizing proprietary insight. The result would be enhanced product innovation, ability to compete, and choices for consumers.
Business managers need to research markets where the company does not have any exposure or cost data available to the company is too sparse to be credible. Information regarding the characteristics of markets the company's distribution system does not access or of consumers who buy elsewhere (i.e., information it can not develop from internal data) helps the company identify growth opportunities. Currently, companies are unable to gain access to detailed information regarding characteristics of markets where they do not have exposure. A fair system for providing such access would require the company to provide information regarding those same characteristics of markets where they do have exposure. An effective system including comprehensive information would provide detailed market price information as a proxy for cost data in markets where the company does not have credible cost data upon which to rely and to determine what is required to make a successful entry into that market.
As indicated, a system enabling company access to detailed relevant market information in a form that permits customized analysis must include participation by the interested companies. It must also enable the company to discover and build on competitive advantages while protecting itself against the risk of anti-selection—that is, the risk that a company will unwittingly market a product that is competitively appealing to clients with higher cost characteristics than assumed in its pricing. Presently, no system is known to exist that enables a company to comprehensively map sales performance and pricing levels relative to market norms for detailed segments of its business. If such a system did exist, a company could quickly identify and categorize outliers as either problems or discovered niches of competitive advantage. The consumer would benefit from a company's lower exposure to costly mistakes and faster recognition of competitive opportunities.
As noted, company participation would ordinarily not be forthcoming from any companies seeking to protect their own sensitive information. However, it is necessary for many or all market participants to provide their useful information. If all are reluctant to reveal that information for fear of its access by a competitor, they are unlikely to provide it. For that reason, the system must address the need to protect a participating company's data security, minimize demand on a participating company's available information technology resources while implementing the invention, and efficiently deliver updates to multiple users. The system should be configured in a manner that does not require the company to buy or install any additional computing resources apart from the system itself. The system should be installable by users on one or more computing devices under the control of the company using the system. Updates to the company's customized database could be received as unsecured e-mail attachments and easily installed by the user, yet an encrypted security method would ensure that such updates can only be installed and accessed on personal computers authorized by the intended company.
What is needed is a system that addresses the need for an electronic download of survey data that can interface with other company-specific business analysis systems regarding profitability, distribution efficiency, and market potential, etc. in order to build integrated business optimization models.